Conveyor flight construction



Feb. 5, 1957 A. w. GARDES CONVEYOR FLIGHT cousmucnou Filed March 19, 1953 A i a E iii 2 Alfred Caries b H V I United States Patent CONVEYOR FLIGHT CONSTRUCTION Alfred W. Gardes, Lebanon, Ind., assignor to Indiana Commercial Filters Corporation, a corporation of Indiana Application March 19, 1953, Serial N 0. 343,455

1 Claim. (Cl. 198-176) This invention relates to improvements in a conveyor flight construction, and more particularly to a flight construction highly desirable for use in connection with a tension member such as a chain or cable to operate inside a pipe or tube to convey material through the tube, although the invention may have other uses and purposes as will be apparent to one skilled in the art.

Pipe and tube conveyors are utilized for transporting many types of solid or fibrous material which will settle to the bottom of tanks, hoppers, or other types of reservoirs, and this material may be either wet or dry. By way of example, such conveyors may be used to handle cast iron dust, other metallic dust and chips, abrasive sludge, metallic scale, and the like, from metal working machines, such dust and chips being usually mixed with the coolant utilized with such machines. In other instances, the conveyor may handle grain, soaps and soap powders and chips, sludge, dirt and dust, tankage, crack-;

cases, the flights comprised resilient disks backed up by metal plates disposed against the flat faces of the disks. In substantially all instances, the flights were provided with some form of opening through which the propelling element or assembly extended. opening was in the form of a notch leading inward from the circumference of the disk in one region, while in other cases the opening was in the form of an aperture through the disk. In either case, and particularly with the latter case, extreme difliculty was experienced owing to undue wear of the flight by Contact with the inside of the pipe or tube especially when the conveyor passed around a bend, and the propelling element naturally endeavoring to assume the shortest path of travel would forcefully cause a rubbing of the under portion of the flight against the inside of the pipe or tube thereby injuring the flight. This was particularly true when material of a highly abrasive character was being conveyed.

With the foregoing in mind, it is an important object of the instant invention to provide a conveyor of the type operable in a pipe, tube, or open. trough, equipped with a resilient flight construction so arranged that the resilient flight itself will not come in contact with the pipe or tube even though the conveyor must turn corners or pass around bends in the tube or channel.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a conveyor of the character set forth herein, embodying resilient flights with backing means in the form of logs covering a portion of a flat face of the flight, and extending underneath the lower edge of the flight to ride the trough or tube in which the conveyor is operable.

Still another feature of the invention resides in the provision of a conveyor flight assembly embodying a resilient flight in the form of a disk with a segment re- In some instances the,

r ice movedin the location corresponding to the bottom of the flight with respect to the propelling means and tube or trough with which the flight is associated.-

' each flight being made up of two separate pieces securely held in position between metallic plate means, with the means on one side of the flight so constructed as to prevent contact of the flight itself with that through which the conveyor travels.

Still another feature of the invention resides in the provision of a conveyor flight assembly, wherein backing means are used of such construction as to lend support to'one edge portion of a flight, as well as a flat face of the flight.

Still another object of the invention resides in the provision of a flexible conveyor embodying transverse resilient flights, the conveyor being so constructed that the flights will not contact the wall of a tube or trough in which the conveyor operates, regardless of the turning or twisting of the propelling means, especially when passing around corners or bends in the overall conveying assembly.

While some of the more salient features, characteristics and advantages of the instant invention have been above pointed out, others will become apparent from the following disclosures, taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawing, in which- Figure l is a diagrammatic or schematic illustration of 1 a pipe or tube conveying system to illustrate a use for the instant invention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary sectional view through a bend of the pipe or tube embodied in the system, illustrating the conveyor itself in side elevation;

Figure 3 is an enlarged transverse sectional view taken substantially as indicated by the line III-III of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Figure 4 is a fragmentary bottom plan view of a single flight assembly.

As shown on the drawings:

By way of example and not by way of limitation, the illustrated embodiment of the instant invention may be utilized in the system diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 1. This system .includes a loading hopper 1 of any suitable character, and a pipe or tube 2 which extends downwardly from a discharge housing 3 through the loading hopper 1, upwardly and back to the discharge housing. Inside the discharge housing, the tube is open, and the conveyor itself passes around a sprocket, thereby unloading the material conveyed into a chute 4 where it may gravitate into any suitable receptacle. Inside the loading hopper 1, the pipe or tube is cut away at the top portion as indicated at 5 so that in that region it is in the form of an open trough and material readily falls into the pipe tube to be carriedtherealong by the conveyor to be later described. It will be noted that the pipe has bends therein, and particular reference is made to a bend of the character indicated at 6 in the upper right-hand portion of the figure, since Fig. 2 of the drawings is illustrative of the conveyor passing around that particular bend, with the illustration, for Convenience, being rotated to the left from the showing in Fig. l.

The tube or pipe 2 obviously is fabricated from several different lengths, connected together at intervals with the aid of laterally extending flanges 7 as indicated in Fig. 2.

With reference now to Figs. 2, 3 and 4 of the drawa propelling element or assembly which in heillustrated.

instance is in the form of a forged chain, including a pair of outer links 38 pivotally connected to each end of a single inner link 9, and so on. The illustratedchain is of substantially the same character and constructionas the chain disclosed in J. H. Weston Patent No. 870,704, issued November 12, 1907.

At any desired locations along the chain flight assemblies are provided. The spacing between the flight assemblies may be made as greatas needed consistent with the material to be conveyed, and in the illustrated-instance I have shown a flight assembly mounted on each inner link 9.

Each, flight assembly comprises a resilient disk-like flight 10, preferably slightly. lessin-diameter than the insiderdiameter of the pipe 2, so'that the flight does not contact the inner wall of the pipe, This lack ofcontact does not interfere with the conveying of materialthrough the pipe, since the action is continuous.- Each flight is cut off along a straight line at the bottom portion thereof. as-indicated at 11 in Figs. 3-and 4, so that a segment of In the center of the 1 straight line bottom edge, an upwardly extendingsquare.

the flight is actually removed.

or rectangular shaped notch is provided-as indicated at 1210 accommodate an inner link 9 of the chain, as well as lugs on a backing means later to be" described.

Each resilient flight 10 rnay be made of any suitable material, and in some cases the flight does not evenhave' to be resilient, although that is preferablein most cases;

In some instances, as Well, the material of theflightwill The illustrated embodiment of the instant invention is'a conveyor designed to carry heavier loads such as cast iron dust and chips, other metallic cuttings, sludge, and

the like. Such a conveyor is usually operated in one direction, whereas conveyors of this'type for lighter substances may be constructed somewhat ditferentlyto operate in either direction at will. The instant conveyor, looking at Fig. 2, moves in a clockwise directionaround the bend in the tube 2. The leading side of each flight is preferably reinforced by means of a metallic plate 13, such as a stamping, and this plate is of course notched as indicated at 14 in Fig. 4 in order to accommodate the chain passing therethrough. The plate as clearly seen in Fig; 2 is not of as great a diameter as the flight, so that the flight projects beyond the plate in all directions except at'thebottom.

Heavier supporting means are provided on the trailing.

side. of'each flight'in the nature of backing means. These backing means are commonly referred to as a backing plate, but actually comprise a pair of allochiral members or'half plates 15 and 16 in the form of brackets. Each of these backing members has a backing plate portion 17, of the general shape, but of lesser size, than half the in Fig. 2. On the lower portion .of this flange, there is an inwardly extending lug 19, Fig. 3, which enters b6 tween the sides of the inner link 9. A bolt extendsthrough the flanges 18-18 and the lugs 19-19 and the inner link 9 of the chain, as clearly seen in Fig. 3, to

firmly join each flight assembly to the chain. With reference now to Figs. 2 and 4, it will be noted that the,

flight cannot. slide longitudinally of the chainto any material extent, because it will reach the; end of itsre-..

spective inner link 9.

The flight 10 is provided with a pair of holes laterally Usually, however, a flight made of an spaced in the upper portion, to accommodate bolts 21 eachof which extendsthrough the front reinforcing plate 13, the flight, and the plateportion 17 of the respective backing member 15 or 16. Thus the flight is positively held in position.

An important feature of the instant invention is the provision of forwardly extendinglugs 22 on the bottom of each backing member 15 or 16. As seen clearly in Figs. 2 and 3, these lugs are substantially-triangular in cross section, and extend forwardly to underlie and, lend support to a portion of :the flat edgeof the flight 10 where it is cut OK at 11. Thus, not only does the backingmember support and reinforce the rear face of the flight 10, but it also functions as a rest for the bottom flightedge portion of the flight, Now, as seenclearly at 23-23 in Fig. 3, it is the lugs 2222 that ride the inside surface of the pipe or tube 2. This arrangement eliminates contact of the flight 10 with the inside surface of the pipe. The backing members 15 and 16 arepreferably cast or equivalently formed in a single piece including the plate portion 17, the fiange'18, the inwardly extending lug19,

and the tube riding lug 22. The lugs may be madev of cast steel or some other metal, preferably a metal having a'low coefficient of'sliding friction and adequate durability so that the'lugs 22-22 will not wear off except by very long usage.

In operation, the instant invention is extremely simple.

Itwill be noted that in respect to the flights the chain is eccentrically disposed, that is the chain is mainly below the, horizontal diameter of the flight. Of course, while riding in the tube and turning around bends therein, the chain will tend to follow the shortest path, so that in passing through the loading hopper 1 in Fig. l, the chain will be uppermost and the flights extending therebelow. Because of that condition, it makes no difference that there is a space between the chain and the tube between the lugs 22-22, as seen in Fig. 3. The conveying is mainly done by the flight on the opposite side of the conveyor structure. No matter whether the chain is passing around corners or bends in the pipe, or if the chain is being twisted around its longitudinal axis as would occur between the bend 6 in Fig. l and the bend leading up to the housing, 3, the flight itself never contacts the inside pipe wall. The lugs 22 contact and ride the inside pipe walland thusthe flightlt) is very long lived since it is not deteriorated by wall contact during its substantially continuous travel.

Assuming that it is necessary for some reason to replace a flight, it is a simple expedient to remove the two bolts 212 1-, and pull out the flight from between the reinforcing'plate 13 and the backing means. A new flight may be slipped into position, and the bolts. replaced. It is n ot even necessary to separate the backing means from the inner chain link 9'.

Iirjsome cases, it may be deemed more'expedient and more economical'to have separate flight sections and to this end I have illustrated a line 24 sloping through the uppersolid portion of the flight from the circumferential edgeto the aforesaid notch 12, dividing the flightinto two pieces. With this arrangement, removal and replacement of the flight may be somewhat facilitated, but also it may only be necessary to replace one section of' the flight. This' is an'additional feature that may be incorporated; if" desired, but in many cases the flight will simply be" made of a one piece construction as previously described From the foregoingit is apparent that I have provided a novel and highly durable form of conveyor for use in a pipe, tube, open top channel, or the like. The structure It will be understood that modifications and variations may be effected without departing from the scope of the novel concepts of the present invention.

I claim as my invention:

A flight assembly for a conveyor, including a flight of a generally disk shape with a segment removed to provide a straight bottom edge portion, and backing means secured to said flight and covering a part of a flat face of the flight,

and means on said backing means extending under said References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Horst Jan. 16, 1906 Cokus Ian. 30, 1917 Lefler Apr. 22, 1919 Patten et a1. Mar. 30, 1920 Wilmot Sept. 25, 1928 Hapman Feb. 14, 1939 Hapman Oct. 31, 1939 Boldt May 7, 1940 Hapman Aug. 19, 1952 

